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This chapter tries to address three questions: First, what are the central features of the welfare-to-work programmes that were developed by New Labour and will now be expanded and intensified by the Coalition government? Second, what explains the apparent consensus around these programmes? Third, what impacts are they likely to have upon different groups of claimants? There seems to be a marked reliance by the Coalition on efforts to reduce welfare entitlement and ensure that all benefits are strictly tied to efforts to seek work, alongside a notable commitment to simplify the benefits...

This chapter tries to address three questions: First, what are the central features of the welfare-to-work programmes that were developed by New Labour and will now be expanded and intensified by the Coalition government? Second, what explains the apparent consensus around these programmes? Third, what impacts are they likely to have upon different groups of claimants? There seems to be a marked reliance by the Coalition on efforts to reduce welfare entitlement and ensure that all benefits are strictly tied to efforts to seek work, alongside a notable commitment to simplify the benefits regime and improve the rewards of paid employment via the proposed Universal Credit. The key potential snagging points are reviewed with the current approach by exploring broad issues of concern before and focusing on two groups of benefit claimants particularly affected: lone parents and disabled people.